Post Event Analysis

At the end of a race, or other such event, it’s very easy to take a snapshot feeling of how things went, sometimes this means being overly critical of your own performance. On other occasions you may be celebrating a fine personal best before you realise the winner set a new world record and the course was clearly short. That’s why it’s important to gather all relevant information before a serious analysis of your performance. As a runner the first thing I do, after I cross the finish, is stop my watch and check my time, to see how fast I was. This can leave me feeling a little disappointed if my time isn’t as good as I had hoped, or elated if I’ve run faster than I’ve expected, but then I park it until I see the full result. In my best years I didn’t wear a watch in races, I preferred to race the opposition rather than worry about the time so my initial success criteria was based more upon position than time. Now I’m an old geezer it’s more important to see how much I’m slowing down rather than if I finished 36^th or 37^th.

The analysis of a track race is often easy as it’s a regular distance, generally the same surface and flat, but you may need to take into account weather, altitude, temperature and how tactical the race was. For a road race or cross country event, you need to take into account different terrain and also different conditions to similar races. So it’s important that you get a full picture of what everybody else in the race did, before critiquing your performance.

When I’m assessing my performance I’ll look at the winner’s time and see how they did in comparison to my time. Then I’ll look at the runners who normally finish around my finishing position to see how I fared relative to them. Of course non of this is perfect as you don’t know what their personal circumstances were on the day but if there is a large enough group of peers it should give you a decent indication. If I’ve done the race previously I’ll compare my time and position against that, taking into account who else was in the race, my current fitness level and differing race conditions. Lastly I’ll run through the race in my mind to see where I thought I did particularly well or any aspects that I could improve upon.

As a Coach/Personal Trainer I help my clients to evaluate their performance in the same way. If I’ve been there to watch the race I’ll already know some of the areas that need to be worked on, but it’s important to ask the runner what they think of their own performance, before giving my opinion. On some occasions the person may be too wrapped up with what they think they did wrong that they forget to think about the things that went well. Other times it’ll be clear there were areas that need to be worked on so then it’s up to us to identify the best way to do that. If I can, I’ll always try to end on a positive, it’s a much healthier way to live your life.

And onto the latest race in my calendar:

After my run for Salford, last week, I was so inspired by the atmosphere that I pushed myself a little harder in training this week. I hadn’t realised what a difference not competing for my club regularly had on my enthusiasm, now I’m all fired up and want to improve, to play my part in making Salford the best club in the country. On Wednesday I did my usual quality session but, to me, it felt like I was shifting along that little bit quicker than I had previously. It’s a good sign but I’m still only one week into my quality work so need to be patient. On Thursday I decided it was time to push things a little more and ran for 10 miles, about 3 miles longer than anything I’d done for about 8 weeks. It felt good to be out for more than an hour, even though my hamstring was a little sore afterwards, but Friday was a rest day so I wasn’t unduly concerned.

Come Saturday it was another race day, this time the Northern Road Relay Champs, so tougher opposition and I’d been promoted into the C team. Couldn’t afford to have a bad run or it would mean a quick demotion to D. There were a couple of guys in the B team who had been just a little quicker than me at Marbury so I had them in my sights, but I knew this run was all about building up my confidence, I wasn’t going to make a difference to Salford today. My hamstring was a little sore so I was still a little nervous but I was confident enough that I’d get through it.

It came to me that Sean, the team manager, must’ve read my blog from last week, and focused on the bit about my first relay run for Belgrave, as once again I was on 2^nd leg taking over from somebody else I didn’t know. Not only that but I didn’t get a chance to meet him before the start. During the race I was out on the course trying to spot him but couldn’t find number 97 anywhere, I was beginning to think he’d dropped out so wondering if I’d get a run at all. As the runners came into changeover I still hadn’t seen 97 but I decided to get to the start just in case. Then he turned up with a number that was obscured to the point that it didn’t look like a 97, but I was away.

This course was not at all to my liking, it was confusing, a number of runners didn’t really know where they were supposed to be running (though I’d made it my business to make a proper recce of the course so I was fairly confident I knew where I was going), many of the paths were slippery, corners were very tight (one was so tight I had to stop and start again every time I went round it), runners were intermingling from different angles and it was narrow. I also saw a lot of people cutting a particular corner and whilst they might have been well down the race, so not affecting the top positions, it may well have had an affect on some honest runner’s ranking. I also think the marshals cry of ‘where are you going’ wasn’t the most helpful to those people who did go wrong. Still, irrespective of my feelings for the course I gave it a good go and managed to bring our team home 27 places higher than I set off. Nobody overtook me, though there was one guy behind me chasing me down, and I not only managed to run fastest leg for the C team I also beat all the guys in the B team.

You might think that I wasn’t happy being in the C team when hindsight’s view shows I should have been in the B team, but I know how difficult it is to the select teams, I was involved in making the choices for some of Belgrave’s 12 stage medal winning teams and it’s not easy leaving people out of that. To be fair to Sean, guys in the B team had beaten me the week before, I am still coming back from an injury and even I didn’t realise I would run that much better than last week. In fact I was pretty impressed with Sean’s management style, despite being on 1^st leg, himself, he put in a lot of time for other members of the squad, putting their enquiries before his own preparations. I’ve never met anybody so laid back that they can still be putting their racing shoes on and chatting to others after the starting gun has gone, and then he still managed to overtake some of the teams, not only a good manager but he has talent too.   

Credit too for all the Salford runners and supporters, they seemed to crop up everywhere on the course and it really is a big help to have them cheering us on. Many of them were shouting out my name, which is always nice for individual attention, so I have to apologise that I’m still not familiar with all of theirs, but that’ll come. I also had my secret weapon, Carole turned up, despite having to go to work for the night shift. I can make out her Bonnyrigg tones anywhere, unless I’m racing in Scotland, and it always spurs me on. Finally I have to thank Paul Simons for convincing me that I could catch those guys that were 200m ahead with 700m to go, in fact if you could have shouted it louder, Paul, I might have caught those that were 300m ahead.

The final result was that my team finished in 46^th position, the B team were in 34^th but our A team came away with Bronze medals, not too far away from winning the event. Plus we had 6 men’s teams finishing. The ladies had 3 teams, with their top team coming 5^th. Good effort all round and another move forwards in our bid for national glory.

Following on from the main point of this blog, what analysis did I make of my performance. My initial reaction to the time, 20:06, was a slight disappointment, being so close to breaking 19 minutes. However when I saw the results I realised I’d run well against my peers, closing the gap on some who ran faster than me the previous week and beating others. It gives me the impression that I’m about 20-30 seconds off where I was before my injury, which surprises me as I’ve not really trained anywhere near as hard as I was then. That means I’m about a further 20 seconds away from where I want to be, and I actually feel I can get there. I’m sure I could have run faster, I wasn’t quite ready at the start so didn’t really get into my stride until about 100m, I also got baulked on some of the tight corners and had to overtake a lot of people on the slippery grass and I know, although I ran hard all the way, I still wasn’t at 100%. My injury still keeps me from committing that final amount and that means I wasn’t aerobically challenged. I don’t think I’m far off but I need to allow myself the confidence to push more, it’ll come and lets not forget this part of the year is about having fun, though a win or two would be welcome. So onto the next one and lets see what comes of that.

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

First Time For Everything

This Saturday I put on my Salford singlet and represented my new club for the first time, in the North West Road Relays at Marbury Country Park. It was a low key debut for me, returning from injury and placed into a mixed team with no county qualifications. Compared to some of the relays I’ve taken part in you could look at this event as a meaningless event for me, but you’d be wrong, it was actually very important for me. But more of that later, first some other first representations for me.

My first race since taking up athletics in 1989 – I’d started training around February/March time, my first run with club members being a bit of a disaster where I was run into oblivion by seasoned club runners. After that I was looked after by Alan Painter and Derek Clack, too experienced but aging 800m runners. Needless to say I worked on 800m training and looked towards the 800m as my event. I got my first opportunity to run an 800m in a Southern League match at Norbiton, on 6 May. It was a double header with two Belgrave teams in action. I was taking part in a non scoring event, with Derek. As well as Derek and myself there were three other competitors, two I don’t remember and Jay Busk, a British League sub 50 second 400m runner. When the gun went Jay shot to the front and with the benefit of total naivety I followed. Still on Jay’s shoulder I went through the lap in 59 seconds. Then Jay started to pull away while I gradually started to fade. With 250m to go I hit a wall. Soon after Derek came past me and opened up a huge gap within seconds. I continued to wade through the treacle that the track had turned into and, somehow, managed to finish 3^rd in 2:15.2. My head was spinning, my face was red and I was totally exhausted. As I walked away my head was throbbing, a most unpleasant experience. It took me two months before I felt ready to tackle another 800m, where I finished 11^th but improved to 2:14.8.

My first cross country relay for Belgrave – Still in 1989 but six months later I was taking part in the Reigate Priory Cross Country Relays. It’s a beautiful setting starting on the playing fields with a long climb into the woods, a narrow path through the back of the woods, another climb to the top of the hill and, after a flattish bit, a steep descent back to the playing fields. I was still fairly fresh at Belgrave and didn’t know too many people but was introduced to the teams before hand. I was on leg 2 of the C team, taking over from Matt Kinane. I’d briefly met Matt before he set off but amongst everybody else I couldn’t remember him. Thankfully he was wearing the Belgrave singlet so he should be easy to spot and we were the C team so he should be the 3^rd Belgrave man crossing the line! Wrong, he was running 2^nd claim and therefore ineligible, hence being in a lowly team. How was I to know if nobody told me, so while Matt came in and stood fuming with nobody to hand over to I was standing a few metres away awaiting the arrival of the 3^rd Belgrave man, until somebody kindly told me, in a non too gentle way, to get my bum in gear.

My first British title – Move forward 16 years and I find myself running for Herne Hill Harriers. I’d ruined my summer season by tearing my hamstring in the spring (sounds familiar) but I’d managed to get myself fit again by September. Things were going well I’d been in the team that won the Surrey Masters Road Relays, we’d then gone on to win the South of England Masters Road Relays and in October I’d become Surrey Masters Cross Country Champion. Then I got the offer of promotion at work, with a corresponding move to Edinburgh. Before taking up this offer I went to Newport for the British Masters Cross Country Relays. The team of Tony Harran, Mike Boyle, Vic Maughn, myself, Keith Newton and Dave Robinson were taking on the might of Bristol, already British Masters Road Relay champions, in their neighbour’s back yard. You’d think they would have the upper hand with a short drive compared to our half day long train journey. However perhaps they were too confident and underestimated us. They did take the lead on leg one but didn’t push to create a gap and at the end of leg two we’d taken it from them. They regained it on leg three and I took over on leg four in 3^rd place. I managed to pull us back up to 2^nd but Bristol had pulled out another 10 seconds. Keith Newton ran a stormer to bring back those 10 seconds but we were still a little behind Bristol when Dave Robinson set off after Nick Rose, on the last leg. It looked like a fascinating battle, you don’t pull back class like Nick Rose easily, even if he was significantly older, but Dave is a determined runner and inched nearer with every minute. Into the woods and Bristol were still in the lead, but coming out of the woods for the final sprint to the line Dave emerged ahead and held on for the win. A fantastic day and what a brilliant train ride back to London, where we celebrated our victory in Clapham Junction.

Probably my favourite first memory is my first run for Edinburgh AC where I unexpectedly became a Scottish champion, but I’ve covered that in a previous blog. So onto my next first, my first run for Salford.

I’d been looking forward to this moment since I started running again, following my hamstring injury in August, but not without trepidation. The injury is still fresh in my mind and I’m still conscious that it’s not at it’s strongest yet, plus I’ve lost a fair amount of fitness so wasn’t at all confident of running anything fast. I’m not one for getting nervous before races but this was an exception, I woke up with only this race on my mind. I was terrified of letting myself and my new club down. The race venue was the other side of Northwich so I drove part way and took Ray, one of my clients, along so that he could experience a road relay. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with very little wind, perfect weather for a road relay. As Ray and I walked towards the race start I felt good as I spotted the Salford tent and a number of red dressed runners hanging around outside of it.

We went over and I introduced myself to a number of the guys, then got ready to race. The race, from a Salford point of view, went well as the A team finished 2^nd but winning the Greater Manchester championship in the process, and there was a C team which came 3^rd in the Lancashire championship. Other teams fared well too. My team came 34^th. I was on 2^nd leg so following my Belgrave experience I made pretty sure I remembered who my 1^st leg runner was. This time there were no cock-ups and I set off, a little tentatively, not wanting to pull anything and it was a pretty solid run by me, I never really felt that I could push it any harder as I was nervous about the leg, though I was never really pushed in the cardio department. I did slow a couple of times when I felt twinges in my leg, but I still managed to pass 12 runners during my leg. The main thing was I didn’t let the team down, it was risky putting me on leg 2 but I’m glad I was there as it gave me people to chase.

So how did this experience measure up to the success criteria I set myself last week:

1. To finish the race without injury – yes, although the hamstring was a little sore the next day.
2. To run sub 19 minutes – well under, 18:17
3. To be within 3 minutes of the fastest man – I believe fastest leg was 16:11 so I was just over 2 minutes slower.
4. To not be the slowest man in my team – I was actually the fastest in the team, this is always going to be one of my criteria but as I get faster this will no doubt get harder as I progress through the teams.
5. To be within sight of super vet Mike Hatton – Mike didn’t do it, he chose to do a race in Gateshead on Sunday, but I did compare favourably with others in my age group peer grouping.
6. To enjoy myself and meet my new club mates – I had a great time, it was nice to be back as part of a team and I love relays, hence one of my reasons for switching to Salford, I couldn’t have done this race otherwise. I met a number of my new club mates and they made me really welcome, again it took me back to the days when I would turn up at Surrey Leagues for a chinwag with my Belgrave or Herne Hill pals, before getting down to serious business. I think I selected well, I can see me slotting right into the Salford setup and hopefully I’ll be making a positive contribution before very long.

After the race I had to dash home as I was meeting friends that I used to live with, back in the 80’s, for a night out in Manchester. Unfortunately I couldn’t find Ray. I looked around, asked around and looked around again, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found (though I might have found him if I’d looked in the obvious place). So I assumed, when he was talking to me just after my leg, that he must’ve told me he’d head home, problem is after a run my head’s buzzing so don’t say anything important to me. I didn’t have my phone with me so I just headed home. When I got home I phoned Ray who was still in Marbury Country Park. Thankfully Ray forgave me, he needed a longer walk anyway, he’s in marathon training mode.  

The night out in Manchester was fantastic, though the karaoke proved the point that Carole keeps telling me, I cannot sing.

Here’s to the next run, another relay event. Distance is a little further this time, which suits me fine, but I’ll probably have to memorise another runner for handover.   

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk

Seefood Dieting

The old ones are the best, or so my mother-in-law keeps telling me when she returns from her self imposed jaunts to the Caribbean. Ok enough dad jokes, be thankful I’m not dad dancing. For this week’s blog I’m going to open up about one of my weaknesses, the Achilles heel of Roger Alsop, my love of food.

As a Personal Trainer, and having passed exams in Nutrition, it is my job to advise my clients what to eat, how much to eat and what not to eat. Fine, I do that, but I don’t necessarily practice what I preach because I enjoy my food. Not just the taste, and there is very little I don’t enjoy the taste of, but the whole experience of eating, the sights, the smell and the chew. I’m at my happiest when I’m eating or winning, though I can see that the two don’t necessarily go hand in hand. At home it’s not a problem because I am quite disciplined and only buy what I’m going to eat, I write out a list and if it’s not on the list it doesn’t go in the basket. This doesn’t work when Carole, thankfully rarely, does the shopping as she just adds what she likes the look of.  

However, when I’m in a situation that I’m less in control of the food, this is when my failings occur. It’s not so much what I eat, more about how much I eat. It’s well known that runners have a healthy appetite, i.e. they can eat loads of food, but I think mine’s a little extreme in it’s healthy outlook. Put me in front of a buffet of interesting food and there’s no stopping me, I have an ability to pile three plates worth of food onto one plate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I’m rude or greedy, it’s just that I can’t pass a piece of interesting food without trying it, and as I find most food interesting my plate gets more full as I move along the table. It’s not until I leave the table that I realise how much I’ve got and then it’s too late. As a person brought up in the era of having to clean your plate, you can imagine what happens next.

Thankfully I rarely get into situations where I’m faced with a buffet, though, like Jona Lewie, you’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties. This last week we’ve been away to Croatia and, unlike most of our holidays, we were staying half board. This meant a buffet breakfast and a buffet dinner, I was like a man torn between heaven and hell. So without going into details of exactly what I ate, I ate a bit of everything that was on offer, though I did make a conscious effort to avoid the chips until the last day of the holiday.

So I let myself go, I’m not proud, but now I’m back home I’m back to my more disciplined approach to eating.

I had one saving grace. When we planned the holiday it was meant to be a rest for me. After all the hard work I’d put into my training in search of summer glory and then taking part in the European Masters Champs I had planned to have a break before commencing the winter workload. However being forced to take a three week break just before the championships meant I didn’t need another one. I was keen to train, even if Carole wasn’t quite so keen for me to train. So I trained every day, even twice some days. I’m still building up the strength in my hamstrings so I didn’t attempt any real quality sessions but I did manage to get my overall pace up and felt good at it. I figure I’m in about 17:15 5k shape at the moment, which gives me something to build on when I get back into full training. I didn’t overdo the training, we still had a great holiday and I’d recommend the place to anyone, particularly if you like your food.

Now I’m home it’s time to refocus my training. I ran my first quality session on Sunday, a hill session. I was a bit tired from travelling home the previous day and frankly I ran rubbish, but it’s a start and I can now move forward. My debut for Salford approaches rapidly and I’m really looking forward to it. First race is over 5400m and I’ve set up my success criteria:

1. To finish the race without injury
2. To run sub 19 minutes
3. To be within 3 minutes of the fastest man
4. To not be the slowest man in my team
5. To be within sight of super vet Mike Hatton
6. To enjoy myself and meet my new club mates

We’ll see next week how I fared compared to that!

So what’s the big lesson you can take away from this week’s blog? If you want to beat me, forget about training harder than me, just take me out for dinner. And the minor lesson, don’t worry too much about eating the wrong things occasionally as long as you don’t eat the wrong things all the time.  

Written by Roger Alsop

www.rogeralsop.co.uk